Franz and Pope Restoration Part 1

 I was very happy to find that one of the members of my fiberarts guild had a Franz and Pope Circular Sock Knitting Machine (CSM or CSKM) for sale.  

I have been looking for one for several years.  Franz was a jeweler, and Pope was a doctor.  They were both named William.  They lived in Crestline, Ohio, which is not far from here, just across the county line in Crawford County.   Franz and Pope patented their sock machine in 1874.  They manufactured the machines in Bucyrus, Ohio, the county seat,  and later in Canada.  The first chapter of Sandra Bonura's Book A Light in the Queen's Garden deals with the childhood of Pope's daughter, Ida and describes the CSM.  I have been trying to find the patent documents for a while, and the only one that Google Patent Search shows me is a Canadian patent. I did, however find an advertising document on a link to Library of Congress, Harvard University and other libraries that I found on the US Office of Patents and Trademarks website.  They have a new web-based patent search application named Patent Public Search tool.

 

The advertisement bulletin includes an illustration of the machine which matches the CSM my friend had.  So I offered him a range appropriate for a vintage working sock machine with all the parts. 

When I arrived to inspect it, I was disappointed that he did not have all the accessories.  He told me it only cranked backwards.  It was true, the way he had it set up, it only cranked backwards.  I tried to show him how to raise the needles so it would crank forward. But, when I did that, the needles slid right back down.  I couldn't immediately see how to remove the needles, because the retaining ring was made of steel, not a spring as in newer machines made in the 1920's or later.   I wasn't able to make it crank forward.  Because of that, and because I wasn't really sure if it was a Franz and Pope, having no raised or engraved lettering or rivets even for a metal plate, I withdrew my initial offer.  But after 

• a Facebook post from Pete Oswald saying that the needles would stay up with weight
• downloading and reading the manual 
• finding the advertisement with the illustration above
• thinking for a few days, 

I called and made a final offer, which he accepted.  

I picked it up yesterday.  I couldn't wait to take it apart and see what was keeping it from cranking forward.  

I took all the needles out and I am soaking them in  Marvel Mystery Oil.  I put one back in.  

So, I started taking it apart. 

These two screws on the bottom seemed like an obvious place to start.

And, I'm gonna have to take off the stitch size adjustment knob. 

I won't be able to remove the retaining ring for the cylinder unless I get the stitch size adjustment dial out of the way.  Out come those two screws.

Now I can remove this screw and the one on the opposite side, to remove the retaining ring. 

Even after all the screws were removed, the cylinder was so tight I had to get out a hammer and give it a few light taps before it started moving.  Once it started, it came out in a hurry.

The inside was not what I expected.  The fixed cams are different from my Home Profit. If I had read the manual closer, I should have been forewarned.  

So, one of the cylinder latches seems a bit sticky (the one labelled C in the drawing, and the cam lugs D and E had some burrs and rough edges.